Lemon Cakes
by aquartz
Summary: At long last Pod finds the woman he's been scouring the countryside for: Lady Stark. Now that he has her he can finally reveal his feelings... And his special talents. Winter is coming.


After the battle of Winterfell Pod had caught wind that Bolton men with hounds were to track Lady Sansa. He silently thanked Tyrion for honing his ear for detail and that this skill had finally come to matter.

They were riding in the directionthe Bolton men had stammered and pointed towards as ameans of indication. Thisinformation had not come from the men willingly of course, but Brienne had made short work of getting the answer they sought. It felt good to  
/ride with purpose, but even so, Pod could feel his mind wandering back to the last time he had laid eyes on Sansa Stark.

Brienne and Pod arrived to the inn hoping to fill the hollowconfines of their stomachs with a hot meal. Brienne slid out of the saddle and with a rather loud thump slammed her feet onto the dirt. It made Pod painfully cognizant of the dull ache that emanated  
/from his own feet.

"Tend to the horse, I'll talk to the innkeeper about setting us up with some food and ale," Brienne casually tossed over her shoulder, already on her way to the door.

He silentlygrabbed the reigns and led the horse to the trough. While it slaked its thirst he tied it to the post and started to head inside. To his left he noticed a carriage flanked by two lounging armoured men. The one closest to him swatted ata horsefly  
/and upon noticing Pod nodded his head in greeting. Pod responded in kind. _How odd,_ he mused. The carriage would typically be used for women or invalids and this was a rather... unsavory area on the kingsroad.

He entered the inn and made his way to the table where Brienne was seated. Upon reclining in the slatted wooden chair he swiftly took the weight off sore and tattered feet. He was soon rewarded by the bar keep unceremoniously dropping a plate of mutton  
/in front of him and his companion before immediately moving onto the next table. Pod wasted no time in shoveling food into his mouth, savoringthe taste and feel of tender hot meat. It was a stark contrast from the hard salt beef and occasional squirrel  
/that had become his diet of late. Hesat there in complete bliss chewing slowly, tasting every morsel. Mouth still full, a pretty young barmaid approached the table.

"Ale?" She asked sweetly. He went to speak and it dawned on him that his mouth was still full, so he simply nodded and grinned at the girl. _Lovely eyes that one_ , he thought. A warm meal wasn't the only thing he sorely missed in Brienne's  
company.

With that thought, Pod started to consider forming a plan to satisfy that hunger as well as she moved from table to table. He watched her move deftly past two armoured guards to address the table behind them. He returned to the matter at hand; his  
/meal.

Mere seconds later his eyes snapped back to the table that had been previously shielded from view by the guards. He'd know that voice anywhere. He slowly lowered his cup and focused intently on the scene in front of him. Her back was to him, but her face  
/became clearly visible as she leaned forward to accept the proffered ale and he knew in an instant that he had been right. Lady Sansa. Here in this very tavern.

"My lady," he strained with urgency in his voice.

"What is it?" Brienne was clearly annoyed at being interrupted mid-meal.

"Sansa Stark." She immediately moved to glance over her right shoulder. "Don't look!" He whispered harshly beforeshe could give them away.

"You're sure?" She questioned.

"She's dyed her hair but it's her." He was sure. "She's sitting with Petyr Baelish."

"Littlefinger?" She asked, incredulous.

He nodded once in assent. "With a bunch of knights with him."

"Bunch? What's a bunch Podrick? Six? Twenty?" Obviously impatient with his vague assessment.

"Ten I think, too many." Brienne moved to put her hand on the hilt of her sword and leaned forward as if to stand. "My lady," he started, as if he could will her to sit back and not cause a scene that would surely get them killed. "I don't think this  
/is the right place - "

"Ready the horses." She cut him off, her mind made up.

"We only have one horse." He reminded her.

"Find more." She stated, as if this should have been painfully obvious to Pod. With that he stood and quickly made his way to the door. _Find more,_ he thought. Well that wasn't ambiguous or lacking in direction. He'd never stolen a horse before.  
/Although, for her it had to be done.

Though he made his way to the door hastily, once outsidehe made sure to walk toward the horse with an air of nonchalance. The last thing he wanted was to alert the men that he had passed on his way in. Thankfully, there was now another horse next to the  
/one Brienne had rode in on. This would mean that the traveler had come in after them and was almost surely only into his first cup of ale at this moment.

He approached the horse, petting and soothing it, trying not to let his anxiety at the situation inside the tavern reach the surface of his outwardly calm demeanor. Horses could sense that sort of thing, or so he had heard. The horse tilted its head and  
/neighedpleasantly. Pod took this as an invitation and untied the reigns from the post for both this beast and Brienne's. He slowly made his way from behind the post with both animals, leading them to face away from the tavern and towards the road  
/for a clean exit. Hegently hoisted himself into the saddle, all the while whispering sweet nothings to the steed. Hepulled out an apple to munch on, hoping to appear blasé and not as if he was about to run for his life on an unfamiliar horse. Just  
/then Brienne burst through the doors and swung her sword at the post the reigns had been attached to. She yelled and tried to frighten the horses before jumping onto her own.

She cut down one of the armoured men by the door that had stirred to action and with one final swipe in stride she cut the remaining reigns in an effort to cause chaos and confusion in her wake. It had worked, as far as he could tell they weren't beingfollowed.

Riding so similarly now as he had been then jolted him back to the present. _No,_ he thought, at that timehe had been running away from her, putting distance between them. Now he was finally closing it.


End file.
